Would You Stay if Your Home Became a Desert?

Would You Stay if Your Home Became a Desert?

April 21, 2017 - See what living on the Gobi Desert is like. Fertile land in parts of Inner Mongolia has become desert, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes. Across China, desert expansion since 1950 has engulfed an area as large as France and Germany combined. Agriculture has been especially hit hard, with frequent sandstorms and droughts decimating grasslands. Watch how one man is struggling to raise livestock and witnessing his neighbors abandon the once-vibrant traditional community.

BUYINTEGEDELE, HERDER, INNER MONGOLIA: When a sandstorm hits, it blows like this.

TOS: China’s desertification has forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes.

The sandstorm in the middle of the desert is so strong: You cannot open your eyes. You can’t walk without a pair of goggles.

TITLE: LIVING WITH THE GOBI

BUYINTEGEDELE, HERDER, INNER MONGOLIA: When I was young, there was plentiful grass, then the number of herders grew, as did the livestock. The grasslands degraded, and the sandstorms grew more serious.

TOS: The Tengger desert forms part of the larger Gobi Desert.

TOS: In China, desert expansion has been a serious issue since the 1950s.

TOS: Desert regions have grown by more than 385,000 square miles ...

TOS: an area about the size of France and Germany combined.

BUYINTEGEDELE, HERDER, INNER MONGOLIA: There was serious drought in the 1980s. We used to have around 200 to 300 people living in this neighborhood. They started to leave in the 1990s, finding better jobs in the city.

BUYINTEGEDELE, HERDER, INNER MONGOLIA: Sandstorms usually come in April, and can last till May. Sometimes they hit 10 times in a month, sometimes three or five times. It’s hard to say.

BUYINTEGEDELE, HERDER, INNER MONGOLIA: I grow corn here, from April to October but the sandstorms damage the plants as they emerge. Some of the plants grow back again, and are then hit by the sandstorm again. They have to grow to a certain height to be strong enough to withstand the storm.

BUYINTEGEDELE, HERDER, INNER MONGOLIA: Drought ... happens a lot. We have maybe two good years, then followed by two bad years.

BUYINTEGEDELE, HERDER, INNER MONGOLIA: In a good year when livestock grows fat enough, a cow can be sold at 7,000RMB ($1,000). If not, no one would want to buy it, or maybe just offer a few hundred yuan (about $50).

BUYINTEGEDELE, HERDER, INNER MONGOLIA: I want to get away from the desert, if we have more money. Nowadays young people choose the city over here, for school or career. Whereas for people like me, I can’t find a good job in the city. My children are still going to school, I need to pay for their education.

BUYINTEGEDELE, HERDER, INNER MONGOLIA: Working in the city I am an employee, but being a herder I’m my own boss.

Would You Stay if Your Home Became a Desert?

April 21, 2017 - See what living on the Gobi Desert is like. Fertile land in parts of Inner Mongolia has become desert, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes. Across China, desert expansion since 1950 has engulfed an area as large as France and Germany combined. Agriculture has been especially hit hard, with frequent sandstorms and droughts decimating grasslands. Watch how one man is struggling to raise livestock and witnessing his neighbors abandon the once-vibrant traditional community.